Category: Races

Airports and strange ideas

Jess Guth1 Comment

I’ve been quiet – sorry. It has been a crazy crazy crazy week. Work was not fun at all but I can’t and don’t really want to go into that here. Then I was quite excited to be heading to Warsaw on Friday to teach a unit on an English Law course for Polish Lawyers. Well Friday was just a travel nightmare. My first flight was delayed by 3 hours, I missed my connection, I was rebooked and that flight was 3 hours delayed. I didn’t get to Warsaw in time to teach in the evening… The teaching on Saturday was great – a long day which was then followed with a little legal/political/historical walking tour of Warsaw and dinner with my host. I am now back at Warsaw airport waiting for yet another delayed flight….

While I have been sitting here watching people go by I have had several rather unfamiliar and totally strange ideas and thoughts – all about running. The first was a compeltely sudden ‘I wish I could go for a run’ thought. I have never had that before. I have never actually really wanted to go for a run. Mostly I look forward to the sense of achievement afterwards and am indifferent about the actual doing of it at best.  Sometimes I look forward to it in the abstract when I know I have to go later and I try and trick myself into thinking that I really want to do it. Often I don’t want to go and have to remind myself why I’m doing this but today, sitting here I actually want to run just for the sake of running. Weird.

I woke up this morning with a stinking cold. My eyes and nose are constantly streaming so running wouldn’t be a good idea anyway. That is a perfect excuse, right? Well I am actuall kind of gutted. We have the Scarborough 10km race coming up next weekend and so I wondered if maybe I am gutted because I am concerned about the training for that etc but as I sit here and let my slightly foggy brain drift, I really don’t think that’s it. I think I miss running. I haven’t been since Tuesday, nearly a week. I actually think I miss it and that is not something I ever ever ever expected to feel. I always hoped that I might manage to keep running after the marathon but I always thought it was something that was more about discipline and just doing it and one day maybe not acually hating it. Now I wonder whether I might actually just keep going because maybe, just maybe there is something about it I actually do enjoy.

I have also been reflecting on my running. I never think that I am doing anything special at all. I always think I am stupidly slow and crap at it. However, the reaction people have when I talk to them about running suggests otherwise. People seem impressed. I guess most people do not run long distance. And maybe it’s time I gave this wobbly, slightly creaky body of mine a bit more credit. It can do stuff most people never even attempt. I’m not sure how I feel about that, it’s a strange thought.

Running is also having an impact on body image and how I look at myself and others. No that’s not quite right actually. I just don’t bother with the mirror. I used to cringe a bit sometimes looking in the mirror and think I really ought to shift a few pounds (and a few more). I don’t remember the last time I’ve done that. I just don’t give my shape or look a second thought really. Of course I still have my self conscious moments but they’re slightly different. I may need the fog to clear from my brain before I can articulate that better.

Kath tried a little run while I was away. She said just 1 minute runs and just home from our sheep but the knee held up. I am quite excited about the prospect of having my running partner back. It would be amazing to have her with me at Scarborough and I like the idea of just taking it really easy and taking in the stunning sea-front as we go round. Fingers crossed. Kath has also been notified that she hasn’t got a place for the London Marathon. I presume I haven’t either but I haven’t been told yet. I’d like to have something lined up post Florida to make sure we keep running. So I have just spent the best part of an hour sitting here looking at races for next spring/early summer. Any sugestions? I have looked at the Hamburg marathon but am a little scared at the cut off time there. I have also looked at Edinburgh – Maybe the half? I am looking at races! That’s just crazy.

Ikano Robin Hood Half Marathon

Jess Guth9 Comments

I did it. I really really did it. I ran/walked my way round 13.1 miles. Just in case you were wondering – it’s a long way. It was an amazing weekend really. We drove down to Nottingham yesterday to stay with our friend Bex. We had a lovely day just chilling and chatting and being spoiled rotten. I drank so much water that I might as well have just stayed sitting on the loo while pouring more in at the top – but that super hydration yesterday really helped today. Bex made the most amazing lasagne and just being there and chatting really helped me to not stress out about the run. This morning I got up and dressed and then timed my porridge pot for roughly 90 minutes before the start of the run – that seems to work well. Bex dropped us off just a short walk from the start. I wondered around, looked at the finish line and tried to visualise me crossing it – couldn’t really see it.

It was a cold foggy morning in Nottignham and standing in the starting section next to the river Trent was a little chilly. 9.30am came and the elite runners set off. Slowly the rest of us made our way, section by section, to the start line. Off I went pressing the start button the the Garmin as I crossed the line just to be met with a beep and then a blank screen. Bother! No intervals for me then. I’d have to go by feel – something I have no experience of really.

The first mile was amazing. I kept thinking ‘I am actually running’. The first mile was also far too quick. I don’t know but I suspect it was less than 11 minutes based on what people around me were saying. I consciously slowed a little. The 2nd mile was less fun. The 2nd mile had hills – not just a little slope – a hill. Here’s the route so those of you who know Nottingham will know what I mean!

Half marathon routeI saw the hill, walked for 20 seconds before it and then powered up it, then walked for 30 seconds. I was fine. Onwards. The Garmin had come back on but only on the watch setting so I could sort of do the intervals and I tried to settle into them but it just doesn’t work as well when you have to keep looking. I often missed the walk breaks and they ended up being a bit random. I got some water at the first water station and was briefly cmpletely flummoxed by the little water packs. I had to ask how you opened them – there’s a little flap the the top you can tear off with your teeth and then you can squeeze water out easily. Really I just kept plodding like this until roughly mile 7-8. I tried to keep track of roughly how quick each mile was and I do wonder if I went a bit fast as I seemed to be hitting 12 – 12.5 minutes roughly. The 7-8mile was slower and my calf muscle was beginning to niggle. I started walking a bit more. First dropping to 2.5 minutes running and then 2 minutes running but keeping the 30 seconds. Eventually running for 2.5 – 3 minutes and walking for 1 ish. Then I saw the 10 mile mark (this is an odd course where all the mile markers seem to be located arounf corners so you can’t lock onto them from a distance). 10 miles! I slowly ran past it and kept going for about 4 minutes. Then my calf muscle popped. I pretty much stopped dead (I did check behind me first). I tentatively put my foot down and winced. It hurt – a lot. I was pretty much in tears. I’d got to over 10 miles and it didn’t look like I could finish. I took another step. And another and it didn’t get worse. Another step and then a few more and I thought I might be able to walk it. I was over 10 miles already – it was walk or wait for the sweeper that wouldn’t come for ages yet. I kept walking very slowly. Very very slowly. And then it was easing very slightly and I looked up and kept walking. Gritted teeth, a few tears but walking. I could see the 11 mile marker. 10.5 to 11.5 took over 20 minutes. I began to realise that while something might have twinged in my calf, the pain was just cramp. They just happened at exactly the same time.

Very tentatively I ran a few steps. My legs were tired but ok. I played games then to get myself to the end – 15 second runs folllowed by 30 seconds walk, just running to the next bus stop, catching up with someone I could see in front…Then I passed mile 12, then I could see the embankment. I’d been walking with a group of girls and we set off to run the last mile together. Two dropped off imediately, two of us kept going – I got cramp again and urged the other girl to keep running. She was going to walk with me but she looked strong and I told her to run. I only walked a few steps and then I followed her. I’d not been on the embankment long when I heard the shouts of encouragement. Bex and Abi had got the bus back down to support me. It made all the difference. It made me keep running. Abi ran alongside me in the spectators area and I think if she hadn’t I would have walked. My legs really really wanted to walk.

Then I turned right onto the finishing stretch. The realisation hit that I might actually do this. One foot in front of the other. I have never ever wanted to walk so much and yet kept running. As I turned round the last corner I could see the clock. It said 3.18.45. I pushed. I wanted to get there under 3.19. I didn’t know exactly when I had crossed the start line but thought that I might, just might sneak under the 3 hours for my time if I did that.

The official results took ages to appear online – ages ages. As the Garmin didn’t work I had no idea whether I made sub three hours not. It was driving me mad, totally mad. I’d decided that I probably hadn’t made it and was cross at myself for walking as much as I did throughout. I was second guessing where I could have pushed a bit harder, where it was mental and not physical… Then I logged on and saw this:

Ikano half resultsYep – sub three hours. Sub three hours by quite a way! I know I have been treating this all as a complete new running adventure but just for context: My half marathon time three years ago was 3 hours 29 mins 17 secs, I took 33 minutes and 28 seconds off that (Is that maths right, someone check, I can’t do it tonight!)

I want to say thank you to Kath for always always keeping me going. I also want to say thank you to Bex and Abi because I don’t think they have a clue how much of a difference they made today. I could only be awsome today because they are. When things got tough and I was walking at snails pace wondering if I could finish I remembered Donna telling me I was still lapping everyone on the couch however slow I was going. That made me smile and with every little smile the pain got a bit less.

I am always hugely critical of myself but today I think I did well. Did I enjoy it? Hell no. But I do absolutely totally love having done it.

Getting Excited About Disney

Jess Guth3 Comments

I don’t quite understand why I like Disney World. I am not a massive Disney film fan, I hate all that is corporate America and I don’t even really like theme parks and yet there is something. Escapism. I like that for the duration of your stay magic really does exist and anything is possible. I know how that sounds, I know it makes no sense but there you have it. I am excited about going to Disney World and I am exctied about running at Disney World.

We’ve spent some time over the last week or so looking at places to eat and decided to book a few places for those meals where timing and type of food might be most important – the day before our run and the day of our run. As we have signed up for both the half and the full marathon to keep our options open (we are obviously aiming for the full) we  have booked dinner before both as well as somewhere to go once we’re done and have done the initial re-fuel at the race retreat.

If you are not in the slightest bit interested in Disney, stop reading now or skip right to the end. Here’s what we’ve booked with the running in mind:

Dinner the evening before the Half Marathon (which is Plan B but dinner will be lovely whatever!): Dinner at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom. I think we have previously only had breakfast here but I may be wrong. The buffet makes sense because we can both choose what we want and they have plenty of runner friendly food to choose from.

The day of the half marathon (which is also the day before the marathon!) –  Breakfast – we have booked the race retreat so will see what our fuelling experiments discover. It may be that we have some peanut butter on toast or it may be that we have a banana or it may be that we take our own stuff to Florida with us. If we are not running, we’ll just have breakfast in the Wave at our hotel – should be ok not booking. Dinner is booked early at Tony’s, also in the Magic Kingdom – we both like it here and pasta seems like an excellent plan before the marathon (or just generally!). If we have run the half then we will add an early lunch in somewhere but we’ll book that nearer the time if we need to.

Marathon Day – Breakfast – we’re not messing about with trying out new stuff on the day. We have the race retreat so – as with the half, if they do stuff we have trialled and are happy with we may take advanatage of it, if not, we’ll have something with us. We will also be able to re-fuel at the race retreat immediately after the run which will be great. There’s no point in booking lunch – I might well still be running (crawling?). Instead we’d like to take advantage of the cool down party at Downtown Disney and celebrate what will hoepfully be an amazing running success. We have booked a table for early dinner at the Boathouse which looks like the perfect place for a celebration. If all goes well we should have plenty of time for a post-run bath and little snooze before heading over to the restaurant to eat. After dinner we’ll see – party or bed?

For the day after the marathon we have booked breakfast at the Crystal Palace – I like the breakfast here  – it’s a nice atmosphere and lovely building (try and hide the bacon from piglet!) and it is within crawling distance of our hotel but will make us leave the hotel and walk a little bit even if we are very sore.

Looking through the restaurants, reading the reviews, scanning menus and booking a few meals was fun but also a little scary. It is all getting to be a bit real now. This is happening. We are actually doing this. It’s more than just planning a holiday somehow. It’s hard to explain but the planning and looking what we might do and see around the marathon weekend keeps me motivated. I want the trip to be special and the running is part of that and I want to come back having successfully tackled the distance and having enjoyed it. Keeping that in mind helps with the ‘nah I’ll go tomorrow instead’ feeling.

I feel differently about the running now than I did a couple of months ago even. I don’t feel more confident exactly, I still have my demons, my ‘you silly fat cow, you can’t run’ voice and I often think it is absolutely right but I also have a slightly obsessive determination now. I’ve gone from ‘wouldn’t it be hilarious if I actually managed to do this’ to ‘ I am going to do this’. That’s not to say that the idea of me running a marathon isn’t utterly ridiculous, it is. It absolutely is – but somehow that really doesn’t matter. After all, it’s Disney. There’s nothing that can’t be achieved with a bit of fairy dust.

Leeds 10km Run for All

Jess Guth4 Comments

Today was the day. Our first race. I use the term loosely – I don’t race. I plod along. Be that as it may, today we were tackling our first running event since the half marathon 2.5 years ago. I was excited and scared in equal measure. We had a cup of tea in bed and then got up, got our running gear on and had a bowl of porridge. We set off about 7.30am for the 40 minute drive into Leeds. We couldn’t find the way into the car park we had planned on using and Leeds is an absolute pain at the best of times, with road closures it was impossible. So we had a rather stressful 20 minutes getting on and off loops and eventually finding a car park that had an entrace we could get to. Once parked, we walked over to the Headrow amd I munched my banana on the way.

We joined a queue for the loo (I’ve used worse) and then we just waited around for a bit – actually our delayed arrival meant that we didn’t really have to wait that long once we had found our assembly area. It wasn’t that clear where we needed to be or how to get into it – it all seemed blocked off so we just ducked under a tape to get into the ‘green’ area. The blue and red runners went first and then the greens followed. The mass warm up was just stupid – mostly because they had told us all to move to the front and fill any gaps so there was no room to actually do the warm up. They sent the blues and reds on their way and then walked us up to the start. We set off towards the front of the greens and off we went:

First km – well it went quite quick but didn’t help me settle. Given our run/walk intervals we knew we’d get in people’s way if we weren’t careful and at the start everything is so bunched up that walking didn’t make sense so we kept going and took a walk out. That’s not something I have practiced though so it unsettled me a bit. We did eventually settle into quite a nice run/walk routine and the markers for 2 and 3 km came and went. It was hot. It was getting harder. I was coping with people though. 4km and a water station later (I didn’t get any) it was all still ok but I was beginning to really wish we could turn back and head for home. It was hot.

I missed the 5km marker completely. As we executed our 180 degree turn, one of the marshalls said 5.5 km and I presumed she meant that’s what was left. I could see the next marker ahead and kept thinking, right nearly half way, nearly half way… and then the marker said 6km. More than half way! Yay! I did take a couple of walks out, not quite sure where actually. Aorund what I now know was between 5 and 7km. I also ignored the 2nd water station but didn’t have the energy to avoid the water spray eventhough I didn’t really want to be sprayed. Poor Kath was to my left and closer to the spay so she got a proper soaking.

At 8km I was struggling, really struggling and just about hanging on until each walk break. Have I mentioned it was quite hot? But 9km came. My calf muscle felt horribly tight and it took me a little while to decide if it was pain that required me to do something or whether it could just be ignored. I added in a short walk (much to Kath’s dismay who of course knew what our pace was). She urged me on to start running again and I now know why. We passed the 400m to go flag. Just keep running Jess! All I remember is Kath telling me repeatedly that we could do this. Then I could see the finish line and I saw the clock. It said 1.24.something… I hadn’ t seen the clock when we started but the race pack had said that the green runners would start 10 minutes after the blues and reds. I didn’t really think it was possible but just in case I pushed hard. My (not so) little legs somehow still had something left and could go faster – and there it was: Kath’s watch confirmed it – 10km in under 1 hour and 15 minutes, a pace of under 12 minutes per mile. Wowsers. Our official time was 1 hour 14 minutes and 18 seconds.

As far as I can see, looking back at what we managed in our previous running life, that’s about 3 minutes faster than our previous best at the distance. Not that we are measuring against what we did before because we started from nothing this time round. I looked because it gives me confidence that the training is working, that the run/walk method is working, that Jeff Galloway’s plan with our slight adaptation is working and that means that if we stick to the training plan we will be able to do the RunDisney Walt Disney World marathon in January. The idea of me running a marathon is obviously totally ridiculous but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

I do need to remember to eat something after running though. I didn’t want anything when we got back to the car and then we decided we would just have a quick shower and go out for food so I didn’t have anything when we got back home either. By the time we were sat waiting for a food to come I felt decidedly dodgy and lightheaded – this will have been about 3 hours after finishing the run. As soon as I had some food (a trio of mini Yorkshire burgers at the new Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton if you must know) I felt better. Won’t leave it so long next time!

Well even running a 10km event doesn’t get me out of the Sunday Weigh In – I lost nearly 2 pounds which drops me nicely into the next stone and keeps me going in the right direction. Talking of right directions – thanks for all the donations to Panthera! Keep them coming in on our JustGiving Page